the Five Stages of Grief
by roses for marianne
Summary: When we lose the ones closest to our hearts, we go through a process called grief which is made up of five stages. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally, Acceptance. Akihiko goes through all of them as Minako becomes comatose after their final battle with Nyx and dies. (Warning: Cursing since Persona 3 characters do swear.)


STAGE 1

 **DENIAL**

* * *

 _"Ignorance is bliss, right?"_

* * *

Up on Gekkoukan High's rooftop, they were all here. They all remembered of the promise on Graduation Day after they all, excluding Minako, forgot due to Nyx's defeat. Mitsuru, Yukari, Junpei, Aigis, Fuuka, Akihiko, and Minako, who laid on one of the seats with her head in Aigis's lap, appearing exhausted and unable to keep her eyes up any longer. Their kind leader wore a tired smile as her friends celebrated the return of their memories. She wore dark bags under her eyes and looked as if she hadn't slept in a month.

"Hell yeah! We kicked ass and we should throw a party back at the dorm!" exclaimed an ecstatic Junpei. They all smiled or chuckled at the expected response: even Yukari, although she still rolled her eyes playfully. Junpei's eyes turned to Mitsuru. "Whaddya say, Mitsuru-senpai? Order some high-class food for the celebration?"

"Hold it right there, Junpei. She hasn't even approved of the idea for a party and you're already asking her this?" asked Yukari.

"Since it is Graduation Day and we did just regain our memories, I'll allow it and I suppose i could call a couple of suppliers for the food." she replied. Junpei grew a giant grin.

"All right!" Akihiko sighed.

"Always a one-track mind with you." he commented.

"Hey, that's not nice, Akihiko-senpai! I can be mature too!" retorted Junpei.

"Yeah… in our dreams." said Yukari.

Aigis was crying tears of joy that splattered onto Minako's cheeks. Minako lifted a weak hand to wipe her tears, but lacked any energy to lift her hand high enough. Aigis noticed what she was doing and looked down to her peaceful face.

"Minako…" she whispered with a cheerful smile.

"I'm so happy… you are all…" Minako couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and closed them. "...happy…" Her arm that she lifted in the air fell with swiftly and gracefully. And a content smile plastered on her face.

"Hey, Minako, what would you li-" Akihiko froze once his eyes saw Minako's peaceful sleeping form. He thought nothing of it and shrugged it off as exhaustion. "Oh, she's already sleeping."

"Who's sleeping?" asked Junpei, but no longer needed an answer once he saw Minako sleeping soundly. "Wow, she must have been really tired. That's fine, I guess, but I don't think we should have a party until Leader-tan wakes up."

"Wow, Junpei, you're finally making some sense. But I agree. It just wouldn't feel right." replied Yukari, who nodded.

The others agreed of course. They took Minako to the hospital so that Mitsuru could give her teachers a legitimate reason for her absence. However, they never expected her to have anything else but exhaustion.

When she was checked by the doctor, they found her to be comatose, but couldn't find any reason why. When the doctor told them that, it really felt as though someone had stopped time. None of them moved a muscle and it seemed like they couldn't breathe, stuck in this one fraction of time.

Junpei hid his face in his hat so no one could see how much he was hurting. Yukari yelled at the doctor in denial. Fuuka fell to her knees as they couldn't support the grief she held. Ken couldn't hide his tears. Mitsuru covered her face with her hands and lowered her head in shame: shame that she couldn't protect her. Koromaru wasn't at the hospital, but he knew when she fell into a coma: he whimpered to himself all that night. Aigis began crying, as unnatural as it was for a robot to cry.

Akihiko… was still stuck in that one fraction of time. He couldn't move nor breathe nor think. He was going into complete shock. His mind was blank. He didn't know what to say. He didn't what to do. He didn't know what to think. One name was stuck in his mind, repeating itself over and over.

 _Mi...na...ko…_

 _No. This can't be happening. No. No, no, no, no, no!_

He thinks that he's dreaming right now. He thinks that Minako is awake and that he could touch her, hug her… kiss her. And that he'll wake up and everything is normal. That she'll greet him when he wakes up and surprise him with pancakes that she woke up early to make: just for him.

Akihiko's mouth forms into a smile and he begins to laugh softly. Like what the doctor told him was all a harmless joke.

But it's real and Minako is asleep: expected to sleep for a while.

And he is reeled back into reality.


End file.
